[CMake] Dependencies between independent projects

[Petr Kmoch]

Hi Alexander,

I had to create a very similar setup at work. My solution was to
define a global property for the list of projects to generate. There
is a top level CMakeLists.txt file which doesn't define any targets,
but just includes all subdirectories as necessary. In pseudo-code, my
solution is as follows:

## top_level/CMakeLists.txt:
set_property(GLOBAL PROPERTY my_project_list
${variable_defined_on_command_line})

get_property(projects GLOBAL PROPERTY my_project_list)
while(projects)
 set_property(GLOBAL PROPERTY my_project_list "")
 foreach(proj IN LISTS projects)
  if (proj_not_yet_added)
   add_subdirectory(${proj}) # this can add projects to
my_project_list global property
  endif()
 endforeach()
 get_property(projects GLOBAL PROPERTY my_project_list)
endwhile()

##

To make the dependency specification as fool-proof as possible, I also
overrode target_link_libraries() so that it accepts an extended
`project:target' syntax (such as `target_link_libraries(myTarget
ProjectA:lib1)') and automatically appends the project to the global
property.

I hope this helps you; if you need more info, I can go into technical
details a bit more.

Petr

On Sun, Apr 29, 2012 at 9:43 PM, Alexander Broekhuis
<a.broekhuis at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I am looking for a way to have dependencies between independent projects.
> For example
>
> ProjectA
> ProjectB depends on A
> ProjectC depends on B and A
>
> What I like to do is that when project B or C is build, the dependencies are
> also build. But I also want the project to be independent, to be more
> specific, if the project files for A are being generated I don't want the
> files for B and C generated.
>
> Basically my problem is, that I don't want all Makefile to be generated all
> at once. But only those needed for a certain project (and its dependencies).
> This helps with not having installed every library needed by all
> (sub)projects.
>
> Has anyone any experience with this, or perhaps some hints how I can solve
> this problem?
>
> TiA!
>
> --
> Met vriendelijke groet,
>
> Alexander Broekhuis
>
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